J6 Committee Goes Nuclear: Considers Subpoenaing Trump Family
As the work of the January 6th committee continues to tilt toward the absurd, there are still plenty of political lines that the nation would not expect them to try to cross.
This is, after all, an investigation whose end will come sooner rather than later. The probe is not going to a popular one out on the campaign trail for the midterms, meaning that it wouldn’t be surprising to see the group disband themselves ahead of the meat of the contest. Furthermore, should the investigation be ongoing when the predicted “red wave” crashes into Congress, one of the first things on the GOP’s agenda will be to unceremoniously take the ax to the group.
And so we have to wonder what’s even possible on this abbreviated schedule? Certainly, most of the flashier witnesses that the group is looking to call will drag their feet litigiously, and even Steve Bannon’s contempt trial won’t occur until well into the middle of the year.
This means that even considering calling someone from within the former President’s inner circle is an exercise in futility…let alone someone from his family.
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is considering issuing a subpoena to Ivanka Trump to force her cooperation with the inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to return himself to power on 6 January, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Any move to subpoena Ivanka Trump and, for the first time, force a member of Trump’s own family to testify against him, would mark a dramatic escalation in the 6 January inquiry that could amount to a treacherous legal and political moment for the former president.
And, almost unbelievably, the committee is choosing to drag their feet for the time being, despite their impending disbandment.
The panel is not expected to take the crucial step for the time being, the source said, and the prospect of a subpoena to the former president’s daughter emerged in discussions about what options remained available after she appeared to refuse a request for voluntary cooperation.
But the fact that members on the select committee have started to discuss a subpoena suggests they believe it may ultimately take such a measure – and the threat of prosecution should she defy it – to ensure her appearance at a deposition on Capitol Hill.
This could, of course, be little more than a ruse to begin with, given the ferocious ways in which Donald Trump has defended his children in the past – which belies either connivery or pettiness on behalf of the committee.
